One time I went on 'the cheap'...in Germany stayed at 'guest houses' where ladies recruited visitors to their rental rooms.

most had a lightbulb - dim.....in talking with the folks who had them, usually little old ladies...electricity rates even back then were 25c/KWH.....and they barely had bulbs that lit....saving money. Like 15w bulbs in a room. Duh!...

and heat? Well, most thought 'room temp' was 60 or so.

cars? Germany has lots of cars. Lots of them will go 140 mph on the Autobahn and get 7 mpg...... and it has lots of econoboxes that rev to 7000 rpm with their turbo engines that last at best 50K miles before they self destruct. That's due to tax laws on cu inch displacement.

You can have the high cost of living....there...the high energy cost. the high gas prices. The high food costs. The high cost of eating out. the high cost of everything and where they get about 70%of what you make in taxes.